Automatic train-stop



F. J. McAVOY. AUTOMATIC TRAIN. STOP. APPLICATION FILED MAR.'24. I920.

1 340 068 Patented May 11, 1920.

Ti-H I 3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

7 IIIII I T l I WITNESSES lA/VE/VTOR MTORNEYS F. J. McA VOY. AUTOMATIC TRAIN STOP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, 1920- Patented May 11, 1920 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IN VE IV T01? FJM Aw A 7TORNEY8 WITNESSES F. 1. M cAVOY. AUTOMATIC TRAIN STOP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, 1920.

' Patented May 11,1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- l/VI/E/VTOR WITNESSES A 770RA/EYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS JOSEPH MGAVOY, 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC TRAIN-STOP.

Application filed March 24 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS Josnrn MoAvoY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of EsseX and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Automatic Train-Stop, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to railway appliances and has particular reference to means for automatically controlling the running of trains in connection with the usual estinghouse air brake equipment.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide an improved obstacle mechanism associated with one of the rails of the track and including a vertically movable plunger adapted normally, when the track is clear, to lie substantially flush with the surface of the rail over which the wheels pass, but which, when the block is occupied or the switch or signal mechanism is set at danger, will project upwardly above the surface of the rail subject to being depressed by-each wheel rolling on such rail.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide an obstacle including a plunger movable vertically along or in connection with a standard rail, and while being adapted to be depressed by each wheel passing thereover, will be resiliently held elevated when the block is occupied or the signal mechanism is at danger, such elevated position being such as to be engaged by the trip mechanism carried by the locomotive in the vertical plane of the wheels rolling on such rail and preferably between two of the wheels whereby the reliability of operation of the trip mechanism will be assured due to the clearing of the tracks by the wheels under all conditions of weather.

A further object of the invention is to improve the specific form of trip mechanism carried by the locomotive whereby the same is not only carried in a safe and protected position, but is adapted to operate equally well whether the train is moving forwardly or rearwardly.

A still further object of the invention is to improve the facilities whereby the driver of the locomotive may manually control the operation of the automatic devices enabling him to take a siding or pass a danger point at slow speed under orders independently of the automatic stopping means.

With the foregoing and other objects in Patented May 11, 1920.

, 1920. Serial No. 368,479.

view, the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view showing a railway track including several blocks and the wiring pertaining to one of the blocks;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of one of the rails having the obstacle mechanism connected thereto, full lines indicating the position of the obstacle mechanism when the track is in danger condition and dotted lines indicating normal or clear position;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the trip mechanism carried by the locomotive, together with a diagram of the wiring of the locomotive Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the rail and a front elevation of the obstacle and trip devices showing the relation of the wheel thereto;

Fig. t is a diagram indicating the main and auxiliary air reservoirs and pipe lines connected therewith; Fig. 5 is a side elevation corresponding to a portion of Fig. 2 but indicating a modified form of means for manipulating the obstacle actuator; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the type of valve shown in connection with the air pipe mechanism of Fig. 4. i

A railway track is understood to be arranged in blocks as heretofore, the several blocks being indicated in Fig. 1 as A, B and C considered in the order of approach by a moving train or locomotive. It is to be noted that the term locomotive as used hereinafter is to be given an interpretation broad enough to cover any part of a railway train, trolley car or other vehicle adapted to operate upon a railway track or its equivalent.

At 10 is indicated the usual track battery connecting the two rails. 11 indicates a relay located at any convenient or desired position with respect to the signal, switch or semaphore devices (not shown) but included in a normally closed circuit 12 whereby the relay 11 is energized from the main track battery 10 as long as the block is clear, but when the locomotive enters the block, short circuiting the rails, the relay 11 becomes deenergized.

13 indicates a local battery in an auxiliary circuit 14 in which is interposed a control magnet 15, the control magnet being normally energized when the track is clear due to the action of the relay 11 holding the gravity operated switch blade in contact with a contact point 17.

R indicates a rail along or adjacent which the obstacle devices are positioned, the latter devices including an obstacle or plunger 18 guided for vertical reciprocations closely adjacent the head of the rail on either the inside or outside, but shown herein as being guided along the outer edge of the rail head and through the base flange 19. The plunger is guided also in a reinforcing plate or guard 20 bolted or otherwise secured to the web 21 of the rail in rigid fixed position. A packing gland 22 may be tapped into the upper edge of the plate 20 to make a close fittin contact between the obstacle and the guiding means. The upper end of the obstacle also may be notched somewhat into the rail head as shown in Fig. 2, so as to render it impossible for the obstacle to miss being engaged by the trip devices guarded by the wheels. Even if the rail be notched for the purpose stated the rail as a whole will not be weakened due to the reinforcement afforded by the plate 20.

At any suitable point below the rail is arranged a bracket secured in fixed position and having a foot 24 constituting a guide through which the lower end of the plunger shaft is projected and having a fixed pivot 25 for the arm 26 of the obstacle actuator.

One end of the actuator arm is bifurcated.

and has engagement with a stud 27 extending laterally from the lower plate 28 connected by rods 29 to the upper plate 30 of a bridle rigidly secured at 31 to the obstacle. The lower plate 26, however, is freely slidable along the obstacle shaft except as resiliently resisted by a plurality of springs 32 and 33 surrounding the obstacle shaft and extending between the plates 28 and 30. The opposite end of the actuating arm 26 is provided with a heavy weight V] which tends to gravitate and hold the bridle and the obstacle elevated as shown in full lines in Fig. 2. In the normal position with the track clear, the actuator arm and weight will be held elevated by suitable means and thereby the obstacle will be held positively in its restricted position with its upper end flush or slightly below the surface of the rail.

As one suitable means for controlling the position of the actuator weight whereby the effective position of the obstacle is determined, I provide a rotary motor M adjacent the weight. A pinion 34 secured to the motor shaft meshes with a gear 35 which in turn through speed reducing gears 36 op erates a sprocket gear 37 over which a sprocket chain 38 leads to and around another sprocket wheel 39. The sprocket chain carries one or more lugs 40 which, while moving with the chain along one run adjacent the arc of movement of the weight, are adapted to engage with a finger 41 pivoted at 42 upon the upper outer corner of the weight and having loose rocking connection at 43 with a lever 44 pivoted at 45 at the top of the weight while the other end of the lever 44 constitutes an armature 46 co'l'iperating with the control magnet 15 shown herein as mounted upon the actuator arm 26. lVhile the magnet 15 is energized, its action upon the armature 46 serves to cause the finger 41 and the lever 44 to be locked as a rigid unit whereby when the motor is operated and the chain 38 is in motion, the first lug 40 engaging the finger 41 will lift the weight bodily to about the dotted line position of Fig. 2. The lifting lug 40, however, will pass away from the finger 41 following the curvature of the chain around the sprocket wheel 39, allowing the weight to drop slightly while the finger and the arm 44 remain in their rigid position and the weight will then be sustained in its elevated position by virtue of a pawl 45 pivoted at 46 and drawn resiliently toward the weight by means of a spring 47. The pawl, however, includes a piston 48 having a head 49 at its upper end which is engaged directly by the finger 41, the piston being acted upon by a spring 50 supported upon a fixed support 51. The spring 50 has less strength than the weight W and hence, when the head 49 receives the contact of the finger 41, the piston 48 is forced downwardly through the barrel portion of the pawl compressing the spring 50.

Referring now again to the diagram of Fig. 1, it will be noted that the motor M is in a branch circuit 52 including the battery 13, contact points 16 and 17'.adjacent the contacts 16 and 17, and the contact points 53 and 54.

hen the block is clear and the relay 11 is again functioning to pick up the movable contact points 16 and 16, the circuits are completed from the battery 13 through both the control magnet 15 and the motor M. The energizing of the magnet 15 locks the finger 41 in rigid position with respect to the lever 44, and the motor being started through its circuit 52, the chain 38 will be set in motion and the first lug 40 coming into 1 25 contact with the finger 41 will lift the weight and actuator arm as previously described.

In this connection it will be noted that the piston 48 carries at its lower end the contact 54 which in normal condition of the devices will be held in engagement with the other contact point 53, by virtue of the spring 50. lVhen, however, the weight is received upon the head 49 and causes the piston 48 to be lowered against the force of the spring 50, the two contacts 53 and 54 are separated, breaking the auxiliary circuit 52 through the motor and hence stopping the motor. It will thus be seen that under the conditions just stated, the obstacle will be held depressed by positive operation of the actuator arm 26, so long as the block is clear. When, however, as already stated, the block is entered while the danger signal is set, and the rails are short circuited by the locomotive, the relay 11 is de'elnergized so that both contact points 16 and 16 drop by gravity breaking the circuit from the battery 13 through the control magnet 15. This allows both the finger and the lever 44 to swing freely upon their pivots far enough for the Weight to gravitate carrying the actuator arm downwardly with it and lifting the obstacle into the position shown in Fig. 2 in full lines, in which'position the weight and actuator arm will remain until the block is again clear and the above described operation of the control magnet and motor is again made to function for lifting and setting the weight in its lifted position. lVhile the actuator arm, however is held in its horizontal position, the obstacle may be depressed by each wheel passing thereover without affecting the position of the actuator arm, the depression of the obstacle being permitted resiliently by the springs of the bridle. The springs, however, cause the obstacle to snap promptly upwardly after each wheel has passed thereover.

Referring now to the locomotive equip ment, I show at 55 two of the wheels of the locomotive rolling upon the rail R, and between the wheels and in the same vertical plane thereof I mount a trip member 56 upon a fixed pivot 57, the upper end of which has a link connection 58 with a bolt 59 carrying a movable contact 60. The bolt 59 is mounted slidably with respect to a dashpot cylinder 61, the piston 62 of which is connected rigidly to the bolt and controls the speed of movement of the bolt vertically through the cylinder. A spring 63 acting upwardly upon the bolt and contact tends to normally complete a circuit including a stationary contact 64: carried by a stationary bracket 65. The dashpot cylinder 61 is held by a fixed bracket 66. When the trip member 56 engages the obstacle 18 it will turn on its pivot 57 causing the link 58 to draw downwardly upon the bolt 59, breaking the circuit through the contacts 60 and 6%. The operation of the dashpot, however, is such as to retard the reengagement of said contacts sufficiently for the purpose of the apparatus. If desired, a registering device 67 may be arranged to be actuated by the bolt 59 to make a record of the number of operations of the automatic mechanism.

68 indicates a battery carried by the locomotive. The contact 60 is connected with the battery through a line 69 and the stationary contact 64 is connected through a.

line 70, switch blade 71, contact 72, and small winding 73 of a double relay 74 with the other side of the battery. Thus, While the contacts'60 and 64 are normally closed, the small winding of the double relay is normally energized, holding the contacts 71 and 72 together against the force of gravity. A. further effect of this action of the small winding is to hold the contacts 75 and 76 together, completing another circuit from the engine battery through lines 7 6' and 7 7 through a magnet 78 controlling the action of the brake air and illustrated in detail in Fig. 6.

79 indicates the main air reservoir of the locomotive. 80 is a main air line normally containing air at high pressure. 81 is an auxiliary air supply of well known construction and operation and fed from the main reservoir 79. These features being well known in the art are not specifically illustrated. From the main reservoir an air pipe 82 leads to the bottom of the compound valve 83 with which the magnet 78 is associated. Another pipe 8% leads laterally from the valve 83 to a T 85 from which branch pipes 86 and 87 lead to valve casings S8 and 89 respectively. 90 is a branch air pipe leading from the main train line 80 to an air motor cylinder 91 having a piston 92 adjacent the engineers throttle lever 93 and along the line of such pipe 90 is arranged a blow-off valve 94-. The pipes 82 and 84 are normally in communication with each other maintaining the branch pipes 86 and 87 with the casings 88 and 89 charged with air under compression at a degree'determined by the adjustment of the reducing valve 95 interposed in the pipe 82. The air in the casing 88 acting against a piston 88 holds the valve 88 normally closed cutting off communication from the high pressure connec tion to the motor 91 and blow-off valve. The same pressure applied in the casing 89 acts upon the piston 89 holding the valve 89 normally open providing free communication from the auxiliary air supply 81 through the pipes 96 and 97 to the usual engineers air brake valve of common and well known construction and hence not illustrated.

The trip member 56 strikes the obstacle and thereby causes the contacts 60 and64 to separate as above described. A. normally closed circuit through the magnet 7 8 will be broken as well as the circuit through the small winding 7 3 and hence the contacts 71 and 75 will drop by gravity and the nor mally open valve 83 will be closed automatically by action of the spring 83, shutting off communication between the pipes 82 and 84 but establishing communication in a reverse direction through the pipe 84 out through the exhaust at 84 past the now open valve 84*. The opening of this exhaust from the pipe 84 will relieve the normal pressure in the casings 88 and 89, allowing the normally closed valve 88 to open and seat against the valve seat 88 and at the same time allow the normally open valve 89 to close automatically. The opening of the valve 88 will bleed the train line 90 sufficiently to set the brakes and bring the train to a gradual stop or reduce the speed below the danger point or within absolute control of the engineer. The pressure of air in the air motor 91 against the piston 92 will automatically shut off the steam even though the engineer is incapacitated. Ihe valve 89 being normally open as long as the mag net 78 is energized, there will be no interference with the engineers usual control through his air brake valve. In case of emergency, communication may be had to the pipes 96 and 97 through the bypass 98.

At 99 I provide a centrifugal governor having a belt 100 operated from one of the locomotive axles and whereby the speed of the locomotive will determine the position of a movable switch blade 101 pivoted at 102 and having its free end gliding over a plurality of contact points 103, 104, 105 and 106 arranged in the arc of a circle concentric with the pivot 102. \Vhen the contacts 71 and are open or spaced from their respective contacts 72 and 76, the contact point 107 actuated in connection with said movable contacts 71 and 75 drops to closed position with respect to a contact point 108 closing a circuit from the battery 68 through the heavy winding 109 of the double relay, line 110, switch blade 101, contact point 104 and line 111, assuming that the speed of the locomotive will have been sufficiently reduced to bring the blade 101 into engagement with the contact point 104, thus providing that the contacts 71 and 75 will be again picked up restoring the energy in the magnet 78 where it will be maintained through the circuit 7 6 and the previously described circuits, and breaking the circuits at the points 107 and 108.

If the speed governor devices should fail, as, for example, by breakage of the belt 100, the double relay may be energized to pick up the movable contacts 71 and 75 by means of an emergency button 112 normally open and carried within a glass case 113. Upon breaking the glass the engineer may press this button completing the circuit temporarily from the battery 68 through the line 111, button 112, line 114, contact point 103, blade 101, and line 110, through the heavy winding of the double relay 74 with the result that the magnet 78 will be energized and release the brakes.

At 115 is a normally open switch, within reach of the engineer, arranged between the lines 111 and a line 116 connected to the contact member 105. After the brakes have been automatically applied with the train running at a speed such that the blade 101 will be in engagement with the contact 106, when the speed is reduced sufiiciently for the blade 101 to contact with the contact member 105, the engineer, by closing the switch 115, may cause the brakes to be released by the mechanism already described. This part of the device is especially useful in taking crossovers or switches within a rate of speed prescribed by law or the rules of company. The length of the contact member 105 may be determined according to such prescribed rate of speed, the break 105 between the contacts 105 and 106 being positioned accordingly. When the rate of speed is higher than provided by theposition oi' the insulation 105, the engineer is unable to cause the pickup or release of the brakes by any means regularly provided for that purpose.

In Fig. 5, I show a modification of means for controlling the position of the actuator arm 26 and the weight W. Instead of employing the electric rotary motor for hoisting the weight, I may provide an air motor comprising a cylinder 117 held in fixed position adjacent the actuator and having a piston 118 slidable therein, the piston rod 119 being connected to a slotted bracket 120 secured to the weight. A pipe 121 is adapted to supply compressed air into the cylinder below the piston for lifting the weight and holding it lifted in normal position so long as the supply of air pressure continues. The air supply may be controlled by means of a valve mechanism similar to that shown in detail in Fig. 6, the main valve of which is held open by the energy of the magnet therein. When, however, as already explained, the energy of the magnet fails, the position of the movable valves will be changed, allowing the normal air pressure within the cylinder below the piston to bleed outwardly through the exhaust allowing the weight to drop and lift the obstacle.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 2- 1. In an automatic train stop, the combination with a pair of rails, a main battery connected to the rails, and connections extending to the signal mechanism from said rails, of a relay associated with said connections and normally energized from said battery when the track is clear, an obstacle adj acent the track and movable upwardly in a vertical plane, an actuator for the obstacle having positive connection therewith for movement of the obstacle in one direction and having flexible connection therewith to permit a certain movement of the obstacle independently of the actuator, a motor acting upon the actuator to move it positively in one direction, a local battery, a magnet cooperating with the actuator for controlling the position and operation of the actuator, and a movable switch device in said local battery circuit cooperating with said relay to control the operation of the local battery through said magnet.

2. In an automatic train stop, the combination of a rail, a guide plate clamped thereto, an obstacle guided for vertical reciprocations in said plate closely adjacent the surface of the rail, an actuator, connections between the actuator and the obstacle acting positively thereon in one direction and resiliently in the other direction, and train controlled automatic means to control the actuation of the actuator.

8. In an automatic train stop, the combination with a rail having a horizontal base flange, a vertical web, and a head, said base flange having a vertical hole therethrough, of an obstacle guided for movement in a vertical plane adjacent the web through said hole, a reinforcing and guiding member secured to the rail web and embracing the obstacle, and train controlled automatic means to actuate the obstacle to either hold it in a position below the head of the rail or projecting above the same.

4:. In an automatic train stop, the combination of a vertically movable obstacle, a pivoted actuator arm, connections between them to approach each other relatively, a

spring surrounding the obstacle and abutting against said plates, a weight secured to the opposite end of the actuator arm tending to lift the obstacle and hold it resiliently elevated, power means to lift the weight to lower the obstacle positively, and train controlled automatic means to negative the power means allowing the weight to drop.

5. In an automatic train stop, the combination with a railway rail, an obstacle movable upwardly adjacent the same, and guiding means for the obstacle secured rigidly to the rail reinforcing the rail, of an actuating arm connected to the obstacle to determine its effective position, a weight carried by the actuator arm tending to move it in one direction, an electromagnet carried by the actuator arm, rocking members pivoted to the weight and jointed to each other, one of said members constituting an armature for said electromagnet and serving when the magnet is energized to rigidify the rocking members, and power devices acting upon the rocking member remote from the armature serving to lift the same and the weight, and means serving to maintain the weight lifted so long as the magnet is energized.

FRANCIS JOSEPH MoAVOY. 

